Guy who can't go on a mission

[NerdGirl]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/58703/

Two things. First of all, I wonder if Curious Physics Minor's religion professor realizes that he essentially said that President Monson is not a good husband and father. And the other thing is that I only ask the "have you been on a mission" question if I'm talking to one of those guys whose age is so ambiguous that he looks like could be anywhere between 16 and 35 and I'm trying to narrow it down a bit. It's much more subtle than saying "hey, how old are you?" and they always answer by telling me where they went, saying that they weren't able to go or joined the church past mission age, or that they haven't yet but they're super excited for the day that they can put their papers in! If they say they weren't able to go and don't elaborate, then I assume that the reason was personal and there are plenty of reasons to not go on a mission that someone might not want the whole world to know, and that's fine with me. And when I was at BYU surrounded by recently-returned missionaries all the time, it might have been nice to have a few guys around who could talk about something other than mission stories! So Ashamed, please don't worry. Some people are jerks, but most people aren't.

[Katya]

We're up to 18 votes for CPM's answer! (I think it's the helpful illustration of "eye-daggers of unrighteous judgment" that really seals the deal.)

[Gimgimno]

Katya, because of his response, I've been really tempted to edit my old excellent excellent response response to include "hilarious ms paint graphic" as a bullet point.

[Katya]

excellent excellent response response

I'm ashamed to admit how long it took me to parse that.

[thebigcheese]

If memory serves me correctly, several (most?) of the recent and current apostles did not serve missions because they were serving in the military. Darn those pesky world wars...

But it really is a case-by-case situation. There are plenty of guys who don't serve because they aren't good people, and there are plenty of guys who don't serve because of other reasons. I've heard of guys who freak out in the MTC and have terrible anxiety attacks, some have medical issues, some are recent converts, some simply lack the desire...there's a whole slew of reasons.

There was a guy in my ward recently who had some medical issue...and I forget the details of it. But he really wanted to serve a mission, so they called him to be a service missionary. I think that's a great option for all those guys who can't serve a proselyting mission.

[Marduk]

There are plenty of guys who don't serve because they aren't good people ...

And even among those, repentance is possible. Just because someone wasn't a good guy at nineteen doesn't mean he won't become a good guy later. (Prepares himself to be potentially offensive to a lot of people reading a college related board) most nineteen-year-olds are idiots.

[thebigcheese]

most nineteen-year-olds are idiots.

Agreed. Heck, I'm 23 and I still consider myself an idiot at times.

And I also agree that repentance is possible. I just don't know too many people who have gone that route...

[Portia]

I've known moral guys who served missions/didn't, and ones who would jump in the sack with a girl they barely knew who, again, went on missions or didn't. HOWEVER, and I find this interesting, is that guys who tend to doubt the Church and "fall away" seem to avoid going. I think many people confuse the direction of causation, they don't want to go on a mission because they're not sure they believe in the church--it's not like they decided, "hey, I'm 19, time for a cocaine binge instead!" But I guess if you were a parent invested in your child's Mormon activity, pushing the mission for young men and marriage for young women really DOES seem to have results.

[Katya]

I've known moral guys who served missions/didn't, and ones who would jump in the sack with a girl they barely knew who, again, went on missions or didn't. HOWEVER, and I find this interesting, is that guys who tend to doubt the Church and "fall away" seem to avoid going. I think many people confuse the direction of causation, they don't want to go on a mission because they're not sure they believe in the church--it's not like they decided, "hey, I'm 19, time for a cocaine binge instead!" But I guess if you were a parent invested in your child's Mormon activity, pushing the mission for young men and marriage for young women really DOES seem to have results.

Or maybe pushing missions so hard pushes the kids who aren't sure about their faith right out of the church because they think there's no place for them in it.

[Tao]

Or maybe pushing missions so hard pushes the kids who aren't sure about their faith right out of the church because they think there's no place for them in it.

C'est possible. Also interesting to note: it seems to me that the majority of ex-mormons who are currently running their own congregations had served missions. Perhaps we could consider it a major milestone or a major lodestone. Of great effect, one way or the other, but once passed, no guarantee of future progress.


PS. After twenty years of familiarity with English, I still cannot spell guarantee.

[Katya]

PS. After twenty years of familiarity with English, I still cannot spell guarantee.

It's a weirdly spelled word. What's the point of that "u" in the first syllable?